Tag Archives: Once Before I Go

If you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing Wayne Newton, known as “Mr. Las Vegas,” then Saturday is your last chance to see him at the Tropicana.

Wayne Newton’s show “Once Before I Go” at the Tropicana’s Tiffany Theater ends April 24. The show is backed by full orchestra and celebrates the iconic performer’s 50-year career entertaining Strip-goers with jokes; banjo, fiddle and guitar skills; and tunes such as “Danke Schoen” and “Great Balls of Fire,” during which he’s been known to play the piano with his toes a la Jerry Lee Lewis.

Classic photos and videos, as well as Newton’s signature “meet and greets” with the audience, add to the fun. Ticket prices range from $69.99–$168.99 VIP; the latter includes a “golden circle” seat, meet and greet with Wayne Newton plus photo taken with Wayne.

The Tropicana plans to remodel the showroom after his exit, but comedian Paul Rodriguez will have a month’s engagement in the interim starting May 3, with a special Cinco de Mayo show in Spanish.

Mr. Las Vegas is good, but apparently doesn’t have the skill set to be as sly as a fox. On Saturday, Newton, who has avoided several process serving attempts in the past, including a convoy of moving vans showing up at his home to claim property to pay alleged debts {previously reported by Las Vegas Backstage Access}, this time was not lucky.

The legal serving company, reportedly, came up with a novel way to get their foot in the door during Newton’s show at the Tropicana. The process server paid $149.99 for the VIP package to gain entrance to a meet-and-greet session. He just patiently waited in line to schmooze with Newton, finally greeting him with the words, “Mr. Newton, Las Vegas love you.” With 20 or so applauding, the process server said, “You are served!” and handed Newton the legal documents, then raced out of the casino, with security guards in hot purist. They raced through the halls but didn’t catch him.

Today, Newton’s publicist, Trish McCrone – like any good publicist – is disavowing the incident occurred, merely saying Newton never saw the legal writ or has any idea what it is, saying she thought it just something to autograph.

The serving company was carry out the clandestine mission on behalf of O. Burton Smith, whose wide-ranging empire of NASCAR tracks includes the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Smith contends that Newton is delinquent on a $3.35 million loan and, not receiving payment, then filed suit Feb. 9 in Clark County District Court against Newton, his wife, Kathleen McCrone Newton, their company, Desert Eagle LLC and Newton’s Living Trust.

Smith seeks immediate foreclosure on the Newton’s 38-acre Casa de Shenandoah ranch in Las Vegas, which the Newtons had put up as a guarantee, alone with their Fokker F28 MK 1000 private jet.

While unsavory situations on many fronts continue to haunt Newton, he may also soon lose his Las Vegas gig at the Tropicana.

Jack Wishna, who handled the Tropicana contract for Newton, has confirmed the show, “Once Before I Go,” ends April 24, barring any extension by Alex Yemenidjian, chairman of the Tropicana and godfather of Newton’s daughter, Lauren, who turns eight next month.

Yemenidjian has previously announced he has plans for a new Tropicana showroom.

Wayne Newton is telling his fans “Danke Schoen” after 50 years in Las Vegas and hinting that his latest run in Las Vegas could be his last. But the singer synonymous with Sin City says he’s leaving himself an opening in case he wants to perform after April.

The man known throughout the world as “Mr. Las Vegas” says retirement is possible, but that decision won’t hinge on the success of his new show that opened at the Tropicana Las Vegas hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

Instead, he says, it depends on whether his itch to keep working conflicts with his desire to spend more time with his 7-year-old daughter.

“I’m enjoying my second daughter in a way that I didn’t get a chance to do the first time around,” Newton, 67, told The Associated Press. The decision that I make, whether or not to perform or retire, will pretty much be based on that.”

Newton’s current Tropicana show, “Once Before I Go” took 2½ months to write and is presented as a live memoir of Newton’s life and his career, with never-before-shared insights from Newton about personal episodes along the way.

“It’s challenging to keep it entertaining,” Newton said. “And that was my first prerequisite.”

Newton has told his audience that it was tough for him to pick highlight songs from a career that includes 165 records.

“It would be impossible for me to pick songs from all of them even if I remembered them, which I don’t,” Newton quipped.

Newton arrived in Las Vegas in 1959, when a two-week tryout at the Fremont Hotel & Casino turned into lounge act of six shows per night, six nights a week for nearly a year. The crooner earned national fame after a 1962 television appearance on “The Jackie Gleason Show,” which led to many more singing and acting gigs on TV and in film.

He also headlined at several casinos throughout Sin City, including the New Frontier, which hosted entertainers including Elvis Presley, Ronald Reagan and Siegfried & Roy over its 65 years. The casino was imploded in 2007.

“I’ve been working since I was four,” Newton said. “There really has not been a time in my life that I don’t remember working.”

“If I still feel like I have something to give when this particular show is over, then I’ll make the decision to probably curtail work a little bit but not give it up totally,” he told the Associated Press. “If I don’t feel that way at the end of this, then I’ll probably hang it up.”

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